Not so fast ... what about Milligan's attorneys?

In defending herself against Wilcox's suit, which ultimately found that Milligan, an attorney, broke the law with her candidate statement, Milligan enlisted the help of Redlands law firm Mirau, Edwards, Cannon and Lewin.

Mark Edwards is a supporter of Mayor Pat Morris, who is an enemy of Penman, who is an enemy of Morris and Milligan ... get it?

The Sun has come down a bit on Penman and Wilcox for bringing the suit. Wilcox said she talked to Penman, but he had nothing to do with convincing her to bring the suit, which attacked Penman's opponent Milligan and his doppelganger, Turner.

Wilcox has since basically refused to tell the Sun how much she paid Gresham Savage Nolan & Tilden, a law firm that has worked for the city and regularly gives Penman money to help him stay in office.

The most likely scenario is that the firm worked for free, in which case Penman will likely report it as an in-kind contribution on his next candidate statement.

But now we look at Milligan. How much did she pay? Did this firm do some pro bono work too? Anything that hurts Penman is probably worthwhile to them, since they are aligned with Morris.

The Sun hasn't asked Milligan yet, so we can't rush to judgement because she may very well have paid like an average Jane would.

But then maybe she did not.

What we could have on our hands here is powerful local political players on both sides of the action deploying big-money law firms against each other at will. None of it sounds particularly fair, considering that average Joe or Jane couldn't get in the front door at one of those firms without agreeing to fork over hundreds per hour.

Gresham Savage Nolan & Tilden hasn't returned the Sun's phone calls all week, and sources say the firm is notorious for almost never speaking to the press.

They'll work to pocket the city's taxpayer's dollars and they'll show up in court to potentially swing democratic elections in favor of their favorite candidate, but don't even think about asking them questions on the public's behalf, apparently.

Although he doesn't cut a sympathetic figure, look at Joseph Turner, so often the big bad anti-immigrant wolf, in the middle of all this: While big law firms turned out for Milligan and Wilcox (Penman?), possibly free of what would normally be thousands in charges, Turner showed up in court to represent himself.

Turner as victim? The absurdities abound.